


Lost Paradis

by awhackontitan



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Levi Being Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Slow Burn, Tomb Raider AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awhackontitan/pseuds/awhackontitan
Summary: Levi Ackerman was, for all intents and purposes, done with this shit.Don’t misunderstand, the opportunity was that which only occurs once in a lifetime. Go on a fully funded expedition to discover a lost kingdom while assisting one of the greatest archaeological minds of his time? No up and coming archaeologist of his standing, or anyone’s really, would pass that up.No, the only issue here, was her.-----------------------Or, the Tomb Raider AU that nobody asked for!
Relationships: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue: Adventure found me

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all, welcome to the AOT Tomb Raider AU that nobody asked for! 
> 
> For reference, the technology era in this fic is pretty much on par with that of Marley and the rest of the world in the Manga. I tried to keep it all as close to the original world as possible, with some obvious changes in order to slot everything into the AU.
> 
> So yeah! Enjoy and lemme know what you think!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan, obvi.

* * *

** Prologue: Adventure found me **

Levi Ackerman was, for all intents and purposes, done with this shit.

Don’t misunderstand, the opportunity was that which only occurs once in a lifetime. Go on a fully funded expedition to discover a lost kingdom while assisting one of the greatest archaeological minds of his time? No up and coming archaeologist of his standing, or anyone’s really, would pass that up. 

No, the only issue here, was _her_. 

When _the_ Erwin Smith had offered him an assistant position in an all expenses paid expedition to find the lost island of Paradis, well, he surely thought that he was being duped. He was down from the get go, packing his bags as soon as he had received the confirmation letter and the date of departure. 

Little did he know, that clearly old eyebrows was starting to edge towards his date of expiry because one fucking assistant didn’t seem to be enough. That or he just got outright lazy. Levi was more than capable of doing this by himself, he was one of Sina’s top regional academics after all, with a masters as well as a PhD under his belt before the age of 30.

Even though he had Hange “Shitty Glasses” Zoë in all of her glory co-leading this expedition, Erwin obviously needed another drone at his disposal.

If someone could embody all of the things that made Levi want to pull his hair out and scream like a whiny brat who’s struggling to take a shit, it would be Myla Kruger.

Don’t let those big, blatantly dull brown eyes fool you. She was specifically put on this earth by the devil himself to make Levi’s life unnecessarily difficult. Levi just prayed to walls that with all the (hopefully) groundbreaking discoveries that were about to be made, he and Kruger wouldn’t have to interact outside of unavoidable, professional circumstances. 

Not that Kruger was his only problem per say. Jaeger, aka the boy who could and Hange’s mentee, was also a pain in the ass sometimes. Luckily for Levi, Eren was usually occupied with ranting about how his heritage was the key to truly unlocking the secrets and uncovering the mysteries of Paradis. A fact which he never hesitated to share with the rest of the group at every chance he could possibly get. 

Although it wasn’t really Eren’s heritage that was getting them to Paradis. In part, it could be said that if it weren’t for Eren’s father Grisha Jaeger, a leader in the Empire’s historical sphere, there would be no expedition at all to go on. It was Historia Reiss, or the Queen of Eldia who had given them the tools and the funding to actually put the expedition into motion. Her family history was rather murky and the barely adult girl had decided to listen to Erwin’s ridiculous notion along with his supposed evidence, the foundation research laid down by Grisha, that the origin of her family as well as that of the rest of the Eldian Empire, was actually on the very much so _mythical_ and very much so _lost_ island of Paradis. 

“Braus! For the love of god, stop eating into our bread rations! We’re not running an all you can eat cruise,” barked Mike, the usually quiet officer in charge of overseeing the wellbeing of all of the nerds on board.

“Yeah Sasha, what the hell? You’re the chef here anyway! You shouldn’t be eating into the food that you’re meant to prepare for us," Connie yelled with exasperation, as he continued to arrange the scullery.

The Braus girl stopped her assault on said bread and pondered them both for a brief second, before continuing to shove that loaf down her throat like she hadn’t just eaten 20 minutes ago, “I need to make sure the food that I’m serving you guys is still edible! What kind of a chef would I be if I indirectly gave you food poisoning?” 

Mike gave a sniff and turned away while Connie brought the heel of his palm to his forehead in a rapid, and frankly painful looking motion.

A nervous yet audible “Levi, sir!” brought the dark-haired man out of his thoughts.

“What do you want, Arlert?” Levi questioned, he was bored with this conversation already.

The younger blonde engineer gulped audibly before responding, once again there was a slight tremor to his voice, “Commander Smith has requested that you meet him in the cartography room in half an hour, sir!”

Levi brushed him off with a wave of his hand and in the corner of his eye, saw the blue-eyed boy release a subtle sigh of relief. Walls, he wasn’t _that_ intimidating was he? Levi pushed his chair out from beneath him, the rusting metal scrapping against the slightly damp steel floor while stretching out the kinks in his neck. 

If it was a meeting with Erwin in the cartography room, then surely Kruger would be there too. Levi let out a soft groan, the crease in his brow evident.

_ Fucking great. _

* * *

“You seem stressed,” stated the slight monotoned, yet nevertheless soothing voice of Mikasa.

Umber eyes looked up towards the ceiling of their shared cabin, then closed as the smaller woman let out a small snort, “Yeah? What makes you say that?”

Mikasa opened her mouth, before closing it and hesitating for a moment, pondering the best way to let her roommate know that she, frankly, looked like utter shit.

Deciding that she was never one to sugarcoat things in the first place, Mikasa let out a sigh before continuing, “Listen, you haven’t showered in three days, let alone left this cabin. Your hair has enough grease in it for Sasha to deep fry dinner to feed the entire crew, I can smell your breath from here and-” Mikasa walked towards her before leaning over her shoulder, “-you haven’t taken your eyes off of that crusty, old map”.

Myla quickly turned her head around, if it wasn’t for Mikasa’s superhuman reflexes, as so aptly described by the rest of their crewmates, she would’ve gotten a face full of the aforementioned grease hair, barely held together in a poorly done ponytail.

“Okay firstly, my hair is always greasy,” she paused, taking a few strands between her fingers and examining them closely, “Shit, you’re right. Fuck, I guess I lost track of time if it’s gotten this bad.”

Myla folded over onto the chaos that was her desk, placing her head on top of her folded arms and let out a huff. Mikasa continued to look down on her before asking “What’s so important about this map anyway?”

Myla shot up, beaming up at the darker haired girl, “I think it’s the answer to our problems!”

“I wasn’t aware that we had any problems on this expedition as of yet,” Mikasa deadpanned.

“Well not us specifically, more so those who came before us!” Pointing her index finger to a small red circle around an island on the map, the sleep-deprived archaeologist continued, “See where I’ve circled here? This is the supposed and widely academically accepted location of Paradis, right? But even though that may be the case, nobody who has ever ventured there has found it.”

“Okay…”

“What if, the actual location of Paradis was in Ymir’s triangle instead? Just west of this location? That would make sense, right? Nobody has ever ventured into the triangle before to prove us otherwise, and it would explain why nobody could find Paradis before! They could have been looking in the wrong place!” Myla finished, eyes lighting up despite the dark circles beneath them.

“Myla, the reason why nobody goes into Ymir’s triangle is because it’s a known fact that you don’t come back from it. The storms in that region are off the charts,” Mikasa plainly stated as she fixed the positioning of her scarf.

“Well yes but- Wait, how did you know that?” 

Mikasa huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes before continuing, “Like I said, it’s a known fact. Also, Eren mentioned it.”

Myla smirked at the mention of the tan boy’s name, “Right, I forgot that you were Jaeger’s shadow.”

A flush of pink that was definitely not present before this conversation made it’s home on Mikasa’s cheeks, “It’s my job! I’m his bodyguard!”

“Bodyguards don’t fuss over every little thing their charges do last I checked, nor do they force feed them bread”.

Pink turning to red and onyx eyes growing wide, the darker haired woman spoke out in a less than calm manner, “That was three years ago! He would’ve starved himself if I didn’t step in.”

Myla’s eyes suddenly lost their shine, a somber look settling over her features, “You know why he didn’t want to eat, Mikasa…Honestly, it’s a natural human response after a loved one passes.”

Silence took its place between the two women. The death of Eren’s mother was never an easy subject to broach. Specifically taking into consideration the chaos that followed shortly afterwards.

“Yeah…” Mikasa cleared her throat, eyes darting to the roof before straightening her posture and continuing, “Don’t forget you have a meeting in the cartography room soon, Erwin must want to discuss your new plan.”

Myla groaned and none too gently let her head fall back onto the table.

“…I thought you were excited about this?”

The smaller woman regarded her friend with a small intake of breath and a nod, “Yeah Mikasa, I am…It’s just, you know, Levi.”

Mikasa was leaning against the wall now, arms resting at her sides, “Right…Even if he does go against it, you’ll definitely have the support of Hange at least.”

Myla let out a laugh, “Commander Hange is bat-shit crazy, any decision that brings her close to a near-death experience, she’ll get behind. You’re right though, they’ll hear me out at the very least. I’m just not thrilled at the prospect of being criticised by a midget with an emotional detachment problem.”

“You’re shorter than him, you know," Mikasa drawled, although there was a small smile gracing her features which Myla thought suited her beautifully. If only her friend would smile a bit more. 

“We’re the two shortest people here! So it doesn’t count.” 

Mikasa gave a barely noticeable laugh, but Myla caught it all the same, “Okay, whatever. I’ll catch you in the mess hall afterwards.” She turned to leave, before stopping and tilting her head to the side “Oh right, you should shower before you go. We don’t want a repeat of what happened the last time Levi saw you looking like this.”

How could she forget? Myla pinched the bridge of her nose, Erwin had made “making oneself presentable” a mandatory meeting rule ever since that incident, knowing that if Myla were to walk in looking like something not even the cat would want to drag in, Levi would outright bail.

Hearing the door gently click back into place is what had shaken Myla out of her thoughts, _I suppose a shower couldn’t hurt._

* * *

As Levi made his way down the suffocatingly narrow hallway of the third deck of the ship, he wondered to himself why they needed to have a meeting in the cartography room in the first place.

_We know where we’re going obviously_ …Although he did recall overhearing a conversation between that brat Kruger and the ship’s mechanic Kirstein about some stupid theory of hers.

_Shit, is that what this is about? Is that brat going to propose something that would put their entire expedition on the line?_

Levi let out a loud huff and turned the corner, abruptly stopping before he ended up colliding with the figure walking towards him. Hange had her arms full with documents and equipment in an almost exaggerated manner, if he had acknowledged her presence a moment later, he would’ve walked right into that mess. 

“Hey, Four Eyes! You should watch where you’re going, if I wasn’t the one who turned this corner you could’ve gotten unlucky," Levi drawled, leaning against the hull with his arms crossed over his chest.

The taller woman poked her head out from the side of her pile of science crap, her goggles askew on her face, “Oh hi Levi! Don’t mind me, I’m in a bit of a rush for our meeting because I just realised that I left out a small but rather crucial detail in one of the experiments that I was performing and I need to get back to my cabin and fix it before it’s irreversible.” 

Levi frowned, “Can’t Jaeger do it for you?”

“I asked him to go ahead to the cartography room in my place, he’ll fill me in on anything I miss if I’m late.”

He gave her a stiff nod before stepping aside and letting her continue her journey.

Great. So not only did he have to deal with whatever shit Kruger was going to spout out of her mouth, but also an emotionally trigger-happy Jaeger.

Levi continued walking, the door to the cartography room appearing in his sight. 

_Here goes._

Levi opened the door, expecting to enter a room full of brats and a righteous commander. Instead, he just got the commander. Clearing his throat as he closed the door behind him, “Commander.”

“Levi. Are you well?” Erwin asked, more as a formality rather than actually wanting to know.

_Ever the polite one,_ Levi thought to himself.

“Tch. With all due respect commander, why call a meeting here? We’ve set our course, I don’t understand how a review of cartography is going to help us.”

Erwin regarded him calmly, “You’ll see soon enough, Levi. Tea?”

Levi nodded and walked over to his commander, about to take a seat.

“I’m so sorry I’m late!” Came an annoying, unbearably _weak_ sounding squeak followed by the harsh slam of the door.

_Just be calm, it’s not like she has the worst voice,_ Levi assured himself while taking in a deep breath before laying eyes on the small woman. His pupils constricted immediately upon taking in her appearance, and in that moment, Levi wanted nothing more than to viciously attack her with all of the soap and antibacterial cleaning solutions in the world.

Kruger was a mess. It was easy enough to see that she had just stepped out of the shower, not that he knows what the point of her getting inside a shower in the first place was considering that it appeared that she didn’t know how to properly bathe. 

She gave out a nervous laugh beneath his scrutinising gaze, eyes flickering innocently to the commander.

_Damnit, no wonder Erwin has a soft spot for her,_ Levi thought. _If only he knew the Kruger that I do._

“Myla, its been a while.” Eyebrows greeted teasingly.

The brat had the nerve to blush! Shaking her head slightly, she gained her composure and spoke, “I apologise for my general absence sir, I was trying to gather data in preparation for this meeting. I wanted to be as sure as I could be before proposing this idea.”

_Aha,_ Levi thought. So she is going to suggest some or other ridiculous plan. 

Erwin cleared his throat while making himself comfortable in his worn-out leather chair, “Alright, let's hear it.”

* * *

Myla took a deep breath in as she spread her map out onto the grand table upon which they gathered around, gently pushing the irrelevant documents and compasses aside to make room. She could feel Levi’s stare burning holes through the back of her head. 

_Shit, I washed my hair! Did I forget to use shampoo?_ She subtly turned her face towards the side of her inner neck where her hair had haphazardly fallen, giving it a small sniff. _Gross, okay maybe not then._

_Wait a second, why am I freaking out? I couldn’t give two shits about what Levi thinks, and technically I abided by the whole “making oneself presentable” rule. I changed my clothes!_

The sound of one of the two men coughing subtly broke her from her internal rant, feeling her cheeks heat up with embarrassment, Myla turned around.

“Sir, shouldn’t we wait for-”

Whatever she was about to say was interrupted with the door swinging wide open, the velocity so harsh that Myla genuinely thought that it would come right off of its hinges. 

“Sir! I apologise for being late! There was a situation in the mess hall, sir!” Eren Jaeger stated, more loudly than what was needed.

Myla couldn’t help but snicker, something that she was positive Levi caught. He gave her a bored look before turning to address Eren. 

“Jaeger, an alteration with Kirstein doesn’t count as a situation. You shouldn’t let petty fights with your playmates interfere with your job here,” Levi drawled out, even so it could be clearly understood that he was scolding him.

Eren’s fists clenched at his sides, “Sir, I-”

“Sit down Eren, it doesn’t matter now. Just pay attention.” 

_Huh._ Myla thought, _Looks like Erwin isn’t in a particularly tolerant mood today._

Eren took a seat next to Levi, Erwin motioned her to begin her proposal with a firm nod of his head.

Her throat suddenly felt inexplicably dry. Swallowing, Myla began to speak, “Okay so, as you can all see here where I’ve circled in red, this is the acknowledged location of the island of Paradis. Now if you-” she shifted her finger further to the left of the map, “-look over here, you can see I’ve made a large circle in green. I’ve done this because I propose that the actual location of Paradis isn’t actually where scholars have suggested it is, but rather in Ymir’s triangle itself!”

Myla looked up, Erwin’s face was pensive, Eren’s was shocked ( _Predictable_ ), while Levi’s expression remained hardened.

She continued, “It would make sense, right? The empire has sent out expeditions to this location before and nobody has come back with any reports of Paradis. In the legends, they say that Ymir Fritz, the founder, could summon lighting and smoke at will. All myths usually have some sort of truth to them! What if the legends were actually referring to the storms inside of the triangle instead? The storms that, perhaps, surround the island?”

Silence had taken its hold over the room, Myla so badly wanted to fidget with her fingers, tug on herhair, chew into her lip, anything! She wanted to do anything to ease the anxiety she felt accumulating in her chest.

Eren shot up out his seat, a look of utter disbelief gracing his vibrant features, “Are you crazy?!”

Just as he was about to continue, a hand shoved his head down and forced him back into his chair.

“Are we really supposed to risk the entire expedition based on this? Basing your so called-evidence off of a myth?” Levi questioned. To the untrained eye, it was as though Levi couldn’t be bothered with the question in the first place. However, Myla knew better. She saw the subtle clench in his jaw, the tensing in his forearms.

Levi wasn’t happy with her.

“It’s only logical! Think about it! Nobody has gone into the triangle to tell us otherwise.” She defended.

Levi’s lips pursed into a thin line, “Nobody goes into the triangle at all, because it's suicide.”

“But what if-”

“No. Don’t you get it? We-”

“Enough!” Erwin shouted, finally speaking up and effectively putting an end to the argument between his two subordinates.

The two assistants sat down, Myla more so plonking herself onto her chair with a small huff while Levi gracefully crossed one leg over the other, bringing his tea to his lips and holding his cup in that strange manner of his.

“We’ve been on the same course for weeks, we all knew that there was a good chance we’d find nothing out here. Myla is offering us fresh ideas and a plan. I’m sure Hange would agree, so it’s settled. We’re going into Ymir’s triangle.”

Eren slammed both hands down onto the table, but a warning glance from Levi had him keep his tongue in check. 

Myla let out a sigh of relief, yet with the way Levi was glaring at her from across the table, she felt that she had nothing to be relieved about at all.


	2. The Storm

Levi Ackerman was absolutely seething. He had already been pissed when Erwin declared that they’d follow through with Kruger’s idiotic idea. Every plan that his mentor had ever seen fit to put into execution has always been a gamble, and somehow has also always ended up magically paying off. 

Levi had decided that he couldn’t stand by and watch this one blow up in their faces. He thought that at least Four Eyes, in all of her eccentrically-hidden brilliance, would object to the absurdity of it all. It was _way_ too risky, even for her.

Upon hearing Hange’s manic yell of “Let’s do it!” In the mess hall, Levi felt like he was starting to lose hope.

Later, when he heard Connie’s “If it’s wet, I can sail on it!” Levi, realised that he had _definitely_ lost all hope. 

Then, to make matters infinitely worse, Levi had discovered that someone had stolen his stash of tea from the common area. It was easy enough to identify the culprit, as he knew that there was only one other soul aboard this vessel who drank the blend that he did. 

That’s what led him to his breaking point, which happened to consist of him banging on Kruger’s cabin door at 3am, four days after that shit-show excuse of a meeting.

_I swear to the walls, if this brat doesn't open up.._

His train of thought was interrupted by a very tired, and very pissed off looking Mikasa.

“Is there something that I can help you with?” She asked, her eyes reflecting the coldness in her voice.

Levi wasn’t the sort to be intimidated by anyone, especially not by the likes of his younger relative.

“Tch. Where’s Kruger?” Levi didn’t have the patience for formalities at this point in time.

Mikasa stared at him, seemingly debating with herself what her next course of action should be before pushing past Levi and turning the corner of the hallway. If Levi didn’t know better, he’d say she was heading towards Jaeger’s room.

Without Mikasa obstructing his view, he was unpleasantly greeted with the sight of Myla Kruger, drooling on her desk with his opened stash of tea next to an empty cup.

Scowling, Levi stepped into the cabin. Glancing around, he noticed that it wasn’t as messy as he had expected. He anticipated mould growing on the walls, clothes strewn all over the place but instead the only critique he was met with was a slightly chaotic desk and an unmade bed.

The less than subtle rocking of the ship helped him remember what he came for.

Walking over to Kruger’s sleeping form, he paused before bringing his open palm down to the back of her head, an act which he derived too much pleasure from.

She shot up, looking around frantically, until her eyes finally locked with his. The look of confusion on her face was quickly replaced by anger. 

“Hey! What the fuck, Levi?” She yelled, “Why the hell are you in my room? And what the fuck was that for?” She proceeded to tenderly rub the back of her head where Levi had hit her while impatiently waiting for his answer.

Levi pointed to his stash of tea, a dark look shadowing his face, “You took my stash.”

Kruger looked down at the opened tea, her brows furrowing together before she spoke, “Thats impossible, this is mine. I’m the only person who-” Realisation dawned on her features, “Shit! I completely forgot, you drink this blend too, don’t you?”

She reached for the metallic tin holding the tea leaves and lifted it up, looking beneath it she saw the small _L_ etched faintly into the metal.

Sighing, Kruger looked back up at him, “I’m sorry, Levi. I didn’t realise that this was yours.”

Now, he wasn’t expecting _that_.

Levi didn’t know how to react, he’d expected her to lash out and refuse to acknowledge her error. Yet he found no indication of such a response. Her eyes were sincere, he could see that much.

Unfortunately for Kruger, Levi was too ticked off to make things any easier for her.

“Whatever, brat. First you changed the entire course of this expedition based on some foolhardy whim of yours, wrangling both of the commanders and the rest of the crew into your suicide mission. Then you had to take it one step further and take away the one thing that was keeping me together.”

“Ar-Are you talking about your tea?” She asked with a rather confounded expression, “Seriously? Walls, Levi, you’re beyond dramatic!”

Levi let out a gasp, this brat had the nerve to call _him_ dramatic?

“Listen here, you insufferable shit. You-” Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the sudden blaring of the ship’s alarm system, the lights flickering to red. 

“What’s going on?” He heard Kruger ask, but by then he was already halfway out of the cabin.

* * *

“Levi! Wait!” Myla yelled, jumping out of her chair in an effort to catch up with him.

The sirens and the red flashing lights had her body thrown into overdrive. She could feel her heart pounding violently against her ribcage and heard the blood rushing to her ears. Something was very wrong here.

Myla looked to the left of the hallway, where she thought she’d seen Levi turn only to find empty space. Suddenly, she heard the sound of rushing water, coming at her fast. Myla quickly turned around with barely enough time to shield herself before she was pushed down by the force of salty ocean flooding into the deck. 

She was whirling through the hallway, the pressure and fast-paced current were too great for her to swim against. Myla struggled to find something to hold onto, her fingernails splintering as she grabbed onto anything she could. She couldn’t see, she couldn’t breathe. Her lungs were beginning to burn from the lack of oxygen in her system. 

She felt her fingers grip onto something, locking into place. She began to pull herself towards it, it felt like a long bar? _A ladder?_

Her eyes were shut tight, but she could see spots start to appear in her vision. Her muscles were on fire as she began pulling herself up towards the ladder.

_Almost there._

She took a sharp intake of breath as she breached the surface of the water, her lungs eagerly gulping down as much air as they possibly could. Myla felt a small sense of relief wash over her. That relief lasted all but a second, and was soon replaced by a sharp pang of fear when she realised that the porthole above her was shut, and that the small refuge of air that she had found was rapidly filling up to the brim with water.

“Help! Somebody!” She screamed while banging her fists against the fortified glass.

_Shit. Is this how it ends? Is this really how I’ll die?_

Flashes crossed her mind as she took in her final breath before the space flooded up completely. She saw herself running around in an open field, her digging tools grasped firmly between her small fingers as her father called her to come towards him. Then she was standing in a grand entrance hall at the academy, her right arm planted squarely on her chest with her fist covering her heart as she took her oath of service. Another flash, dark hair and steel blue eyes finding hers from across the hall.

_Levi?_

She felt a calloused hand grab onto her forearm as she was pulled up from the water, her eyes flew open when said hand came down hard on her back to help her cough up the excess fluid that she had ingested. 

“Myla! Come on, girl!” Shouted Erwin from across the deck. The ship was splitting in half, Myla was on the sinking side while her commander called to her from across the fractured gap between them. Taking a deep breath in, she stood up and began running towards him. Erwin reached his hand out as Myla leapt from the broken edge of what was left of the right half of their vessel.

Their hands locked, Erwin grunted as he tried to hoist her weight higher. There was too much moisture on their skin, and as Erwin tried to adjust his grip, Myla’s fingers slipped right through his. 

Time seemed to stop as she begun her descent into the sea. Her hand still outstretched for Erwin’s as she fell. He was shouting her name. She could feel her heart rate slow down, her eyes went wide before closing as her back hit the water with a loud crack, the sound lost amongst the claps of thunder and the violent crashing of waves.

One final thought crossed her mind before she was overtaken by darkness.

_I didn’t look back. I didn’t see who saved me._


	3. Caving In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Hope you enjoy this latest chapter, like I mentioned in the tags things are super slow-burn between Levi and our OC but tbh fighting for survival probably leaves little time for smutty things.
> 
> Lemme know what you think! x

Myla felt something soft but simultaneously scratchy against her skin as she came to, the sound of people yelling in the distance bringing her back to the forefront of consciousness.

It was still dark, taking in her surroundings she noticed that she was on a beach. She coughed and looked up, seeing the illumination of a fire just over the dune of sand in front of her. Standing up, Myla cleared her throat, it felt like someone had shoved thousands of tiny pieces of broken glass down it.

Gaining her bearings, she instantly recognised the voices arguing near the fire, although she was unable to make out what they were saying.

“Jean! Armin! I’m here!” She yelled for them.

_Shit, they can’t hear me._

Walking on shaky legs, she began to make her way to her friends. She stopped min-way as she caught a rapid movement in the corner of her eye. Looking around she failed to make out anything in her vicinity before she felt something rough and solid come down on the back of her head.

Darkness claimed her for the second time that night.

* * *

When Levi opened his eyes, he was not expecting to be bound by rope to some dirty as shit pole in some freaky as fuck looking candle-lit room. Fuck, his head was pounding. 

Letting out a groan, Levi looked around, trying to get the best idea of his surroundings so that he could get the fuck out. His hands were bound behind his back, _shit_. The rope used was of a low quality, rough and scratching against his skin but it was wrapped around his wrists so damn tightly that he doubted feeling anything at all would be a problem soon enough.

Looking down, he noticed that his feet were also bound but this time by iron manacles. 

Ugh, _rusty_ iron manacles.

His hair felt unpleasantly damp and he could taste copper on his tongue, Levi hypothesised that he must have hit his head after he fell overboard and some psychotic son of a bitch dragged him back here.

Only, where was _here_ exactly?

Although the room was covered in white paint depicting what he interpreted to beritualistic markings, and candles littered just about every available surface, Levi noticed that the walls were an unrefined sort of rock. 

_Must be some kind of cave then_. 

Upon closer inspection, he noted that the walls of the cave were moist and had water running down in small rivets in certain places. 

_Huh, so an underwater cave? Or a cave near the sea_.

Levi knew all that he needed to know, and that was that he needed to get _the fuck out_ before whoever brought him here decided to come back and play.

Struggling against his bonds, he looked for a sharp object close enough for him to grab. There were a few bottles lying around, if he could just shift up enough he could reach one with his feet, smash it and by some miracle pick up the shard with his teeth and drop it into his hands.

It was one hell of a long shot but he really didn’t have any other options at this point.

Just as he begun to stretch his legs out, he heard the blood curdling scream of a woman.

He struggled even harder, that scream sounded too fucking familiar.

* * *

When Myla came to, again , she realised two things. 

Firstly, the previous environment that she woke up in was decidedly nicer.

Secondly, her head hurt like a bitch.

Blinking rapidly, Myla struggled to get her bearings straight. Something was off, it almost seemed like the world had flipped over. Throwing her head back, she let out a frightened squeal as she came to notice that, the world had _indeed_ been flipped over because she was hanging upside from the ceiling.

In some strange sort of sack nonetheless.

_Fuck, fuck fuck what is this?_

She looked to her left, only to be met with another poor soul in the same situation. Only he was significantly more decomposed than she was.

Myla felt bile rise in her throat, _Is that how I’ll end up if I don’t get out of here?_

Glancing around some more, she noticed that the entire room was filled with bodies swinging to and fro from sacks and that she was currently the only one of those bodies that was still breathing. There were lit candles everywhere, white painted markings seemed to cover every single wall.

_No not a wall, rocks? Is this some kind of cave?_

Myla started struggling to break free from the sack, like a butterfly suffocating in its cocoon. She had begun to gain some momentum and accidentally collided into the unfortunate fellow on her left. She watched with wide eyes as his sack gravitated towards the large mounted wall torch near them and started to catch alight. The fabric covering him quickly burnt away and all that was left of his corpse crumpled to the floor below them with a small but largely sickening thud.

Her heart pace quickened. _Shit, looks like this is the only way._

A spark of adrenaline took action through her body as she swung herself from left to right, gaining speed and distance before closing her eyes as her sack touched the open flame.

The material was highly flammable it seemed because it caught fire almost immediately and the heat started making its way onto her skin. Just as quickly as the sack had caught, she had felt her body drop and before she realised it, she was hurdling towards the ground.

Myla let out the loudest scream to ever make its way from her raw throat throughout the entire duration of her short life.

Upon impact, a scrap piece of metal, something akin to half of a pry bar had pierced clean through the right side of her abdomen. Tears welled up in her eyes and her instincts kicked her into action.

She placed one hand around the wound and the other gripped the object tightly as she begun to pull.

_Okay Myla…1, 2, 3!_

Myla heard the sickening squelch of blood and flesh as the bar came out of her. Her vision became fuzzy and she stumbled around on the floor.

Finding leverage against an old barrel, she helped herself up off of the ground and took a deep breath in.

_Fuck, I’m going to die._

The pain was white hot and blistering, she could feel herself losing blood and her eyes had begun to feel heavy.

But she couldn’t give up. She gave up on the ship and was given a second chance when that person grabbed her arm and pulled her out. 

She needed to keep going, she had to get out of here. Whoever they were, they didn’t save her life just so she could die a few hours later.

She made her way through the small opening, following the illumination of the torches and the candles while clutching at her side. There wasn’t much she could do for her wound at this point but she figured putting some pressure on it would at least buy her some extra time, regardless of how short.

Entering the next room, she saw a small figure bound by ropes in a crucification style, hovering above an open fire. 

Was this person burnt to death?

Myla closed her eyes harshly, willing the rising vomit in her throat to go down and for the tears to retreat back to where they came from. She didn’t have time for that,not now.

She tried to pick up the pace, seeing another opening a few meters in front of her.

_A torch!_

Perched upon a corner of rock near the opening of the next room, was a simply made torch, it seemed to make use of some old bandages soaked in oil, it didn’t look like it would last her very long but it was worth taking it in case. 

Stepping through the narrow gap which functioned as the opening for the next room, she heard a loud and gruff, “Come any closer and I’ll fuck you up!” 

_Holy shit_ , “Levi?!”

Stepping into the light of the room, she saw his jaw go slack and the fight drain from his face, was that a _bottle_ between his feet?

“Kruger? Shit, what’re you doing here? What happened to your side?” He asked, with a surprising amount of concern, Myla noted. Although, that was probably because they were about to die and Levi had most likely lost his composure.

“I fell…right onto a metallic pole. I think it was previously a pry bar or some such. It went straight through me”, she grimaced.

He pursed his lips but she could see the disturbance in his eyes. Levi Ackerman felt bad for her. 

_Damn_ , she thought as she continued to stare at him. _Today really must be the end for me if Levi is expressing anything other than mild irritation_.

“Kruger, as you can very well see, I’m in a bit of a bind”, he gestured to himself by wriggling his body a bit, “So if you could stop checking me out and get your ass into gear, it would be much appreciated.”

Myla’s mouth opened, then closed and then opened again. She probably looked like a fish out of water. After mumbling a quick “I wasn’t checking you out” beneath her breath, she got to work on undoing the rope which bound Levi’s wrists together.

When it finally came loose, Levi let out a soft moan of relief and Myla froze. She didn’t think such sounds could come out of Levi’s mouth.

_Okay, now is most definitely not the time to be noticing things of that nature._

Noticing her tense up, Levi shot her a glare, silently urging her to get on with it.

Making her way to the manacles encasing his ankles, she noticed that Levi, too, must have been pierced by some object or other because there was a very _large_ and very _bloody_ hole situated on his right thigh.

“Uh, Levi?” She quietly implored.

“Yeah?”

“There’s uh, there’s a hole in your leg.”

Immediately he glanced down, shock gracing his pale features. _How did he not realise that he had a goddamn hole in his leg?_ Myla wondered to herself.

“Shit, my body is chock full of adrenaline right now. Guess I wouldn't have noticed until I got up”, he stated, although he still seemed to be in a bit of a daze.

Myla chewed her lip, thinking. It would make sense that his flight or fight mode had caused a delayed response to physical pain but that wound was going to become a problem as soon as she managed to free him. Without giving it too much thought, she reached beneath her grey Henley and fisted the bottom of the flimsy white vest underneath it. Pulling forcefully, she managed to tear a long piece from the left side.

This’ll have to do.

She set to work on wrapping it around Levi’s leg, noticing his subtle flinch when she gently rested her palm on his upper thigh. Making sure it was tight but not enough so to cut off blood flow, she sat back on her haunches to observe her handiwork.

“I know it’s not great and it’s _definitely_ not clean but it’ll have to do until we get out of here,” Myla huffed out as she continued to fiddle around with the manacles.

She could feel Levi’s stare on her, and although normally it would make her squirm uncomfortably, she decided that she had bigger things to worry about at this moment in time.

“Fuck, there’s some kind of lock on it. I don’t think we can get these off without a bit of force,” Myla said.

Levi was silent for a moment, seemingly running though options in his mind before speaking, “Look for a small but solid object. A rock would do, I can take it from there.”

She nodded and went about looking for a rock. Huffing a little bit when she realised that for a rocky cave, it was severely lacking in the rock department.

Looking in the corner she found a pile of skulls and other assorted bone fragments, her blood went cold when she realised that they were human, “These are human,” she mumbled, not bothering to look back and gauge Levi’s response.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of searching, she found a small yet sturdy rock which she decided would have to make do.

“Here,” she passed the rock to Levi. He nodded, gesturing his thanks before holding the rock at different angles, seemingly calculating where he should strike.

He brought his fist down in a harsh, lightening fast movement, the manacles splitting in two instantly. Myla’s heart gave a weak stutter as she leant back, startled.

_Who knew the midget could pack a punch? Dynamite really does come in small packages_.

“Shit, that was loud”, she said quietly, “Whoever brought us here definitely knows something is up now.”

Levi gave her a withering look before speaking, “Kruger, whatever sick bastard brought us here already knew that something was up as soon as you let out that deafening scream of yours.”

Her eyes widened in realisation, suddenly she was acutely aware that their time was running out and that they’d be caught eventually, “You’re right, let’s get going.”

Myla made her way to Levi’s side, winding her arm underneath him while throwing his right arm over her shoulder. His eyes looked like they were about to pop right out of his skull, “Wha-What’re you doing?”

She’d never heard him stutter before, _strange_ , “I’m trying to help you. There’s no way you’ll be able to walk on your own with your leg looking like that.”

“You’re hurt too, just let me go, I _can_ walk by myself,”he protested. Too bad, Myla was having none of it.

She chewed into her bottom lip, tasting blood as she continued to pull him up into a standing position, “I’ll be fine, just stop fighting me so we can get out of here already.”

Levi seemed to regard her for a long moment. She hoped that the firmness was set in her eyes and that he wouldn’t push it any further. Looks like the walls were having mercy on her today because he simply sighed and allowed her to continue lifting him up.

As they started making their way forward, they heard the shouts of a man followed by glass breaking. 

Looking at Levi with wide eyes, Myla whispered urgently, “Fuck, Levi! He’s onto us.”

“We need to keep moving, Kruger. It’ll be better to die on our feet instead of huddled together here like a pair of cornered hares.”

_Thank you very much for that riveting piece of motivation, Captain Optimism_ , Myla thought to herself. Nodding, she continued to support his weight as they walked towards the nearest opening. Upon entering it, they were met with a river flowing through the cave.

“If we follow this river, perhaps we’ll be able to find the exit?” Myla suggested.

Levi looked around, surveying their surroundings before continuing, “Yeah, but look over there,” he pointed towards a blockade of barrels and other debris, “The path the river follows is blocked.”

Myla felt her heart fall, until she realised that amongst the debris blocking their escape, were old mines. They must have been washed here with the current. Perhaps floating in the ocean from the war? 

With her torch, now extinguished, hooked onto her belt, she looked around for a source of fire.

_Bingo_.

A barely living fire was nestled in an old looking sconce. Myla could see the plans coming to life in her mind.

Glancing at Levi, she spoke, “I have an idea, but I’m going to have to put you down to try it. Preferably behind some sort of cover.”

Levi glanced at her, he appeared sceptical but she knew he had no other option aside from going along with her.

“There’s a large piece of metallic debris there, set me down there and I’ll wait for you.” He paused, “Try be quick though, I’m not in the mood to be brutally murdered by a psychopath today.” 

She would’ve let out a snort, had their situation not been so dire. 

She gently laid him down by the debris, internally debating with herself whether or not this was a good idea. The blast would definitely alert their captor to their whereabouts but then again, he was already on their trail. 

Quickly, she took a glance at the ceiling of the cave as well as the walls, taking note of the intense moisture that seemed to stick to every crevice of the rocks like a second skin.

_If this cave system is near the ocean, or even largely underwater then that would mean that these rocks are most likely under the influence of erosion_ , she thought. Unfortunately, that could mean that the force of the blast may end up bringing this place on top of them.

_Shit. It’s risky, but there aren’t any other options at this point._

Walking over to the large sconce, she held her torch as she watched the oiled wrappings catch alight. 

_Step one, complete_.

She looked back over her shoulder, checking to see that her unlikely companion was still okay. Levi stared right back at her, his eyes giving nothing away. Myla gulped and continued with her execution.

She saw a large piece of fabric connected to one of the mines, it looks like it could have been the remnants of the sail of a ship. It seemed to have been mostly worn down as the material appeared thin and gossamer-like. 

_Here goes._

Stepping closer, she angled her torch and threw it into the blockade right where the fabric was. A second passed before the material was set aflame.

It’s working!

Turning on her heel, she ran (Or rather, _quickly_ limped) back to Levi’s position and fell back behind their makeshift shield. Just before the blast occurred, she threw her arm around Levi’s frame without thinking, her primary instinct to protect him from any sort of consequences that her plan may have. Not that it would have done much. 

Just as Levi opened his mouth, the mine went off and they were knocked back a bit. The cave started to shake violently and pieces of rocks started falling onto them. In that moment, they both realised that this makeshift prison of theirs was about to buckle in on itself.

“Fuck, let’s get out of here!” She yelled, hurriedly grabbing Levi’s arm and tossing it over her shoulder. 

They ran as much as they could, the wall as of the cave rapidly closing in on them.

Their way out came in the form of a much smaller opening, a crawl space. Only one of them could fit in at a time. Myla pushed Levi down and started shoving him towards the hole.

“You go first, I’ll be right behind you,” she said firmly.

Despite time not being on their side, Levi hesitated for a split second before he started to crawl.

As soon as his whole body was in the crawl space, Myla followed. The ground shaking beneath her body had her reeling. Levi was out and she could see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Suddenly, a hand grasped her calf firmly and began pulling her back in.

“No! Let me go, you bastard!” She screamed, violently trying to kick him off.

“Stop struggling!” He yelled, pulling her back with greater force.

She felt Levi’s hand clasp hers, which was reaching towards the exit of the crawl space. He pulled her up just as she managed to get a kick in, her foot smashing into their captor’s head. Levi pulled the rest of her weight out as the crawl space collapsed in on itself, their captor was caught in the process. The rocks coming down on his body with a horribly explicit _squish_. 

“Keep moving! The light is just there!” Levi yelled at her. They didn’t have time to get up and run, opting to crawl on their hands and knees instead as their surroundings grew ever more narrow.

_Nearly there!_

Myla’s vision was overwhelmed by a bright flash of light. She was laying on a patch of grass on a cliff, overlooking a stormy sea.

Her head fell to the ground in relief. She couldn’t believe she made it out. Turning on her side, her eyes met Levi’s as he took in deep, unstable breaths. They didn’t speak for a few minutes, letting their breathing even out instead.

“Are you okay?” He asked her, eyes wide and breathing significantly more levellednow.

“Yeah, are you?”

“Obviously not, Kruger,” he took in another deep breath, “but I’m alive, I wouldn’t be here with my leg hurting like hell if not for you. Thank you.”

Myla didn’t think there was anything left in this life that could surprise her after that experience. Clearly though, Levi was an exception.

_Nothing new there in all honesty_.

She didn’t know how to respond with words so she did the next best thing.

She smiled.


End file.
